


Pretty-Handsome Kindergarten

by flamyshine



Series: Kindergarten verse [1]
Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-11
Updated: 2011-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-25 22:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamyshine/pseuds/flamyshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike is the new kid in the kindergarten that everybody wants to play with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The new kid and his bunny

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for LJ suits_meme. The prompt was ‘The new kid Mike is as cute as a button and everyone just wants to hold him because he's irresistibly adorable.’

“Good morning, children.”

“Good morning, Miss Pearson!!”

Jessica smiled at the adorable faces of the Pearson-Hardman kindergarten. There was no better way to start a beautiful day than to look into those little eyes lit with hope and joy. Even though she knew that the kids could turn into demons in less than a minute, she always savored her lovely mornings.

Pearson-Hardman was the official name of the kindergarten, but all the children called it Pretty-Handsome kindergarten. Jessica taught one class and Mr. Hardman taught the other one. Only the exceptionally bright minds could learn in this prestige facility, and Jessica was happy to announce to her class that they had a newcomer with an eidetic memory.

“Children, as you can see, we have a very special friend today. This is Mike Ross and his bunny, Jenny. What do we say when we have a new friend?”

“Hi, Mike. Welcome home!”

“Hi.” Mike waved his little hand and blushed.

Kyle whistled in appreciation but pretended that it wasn’t him when Jessica looked at him.

“Mike is only four years old so all of you will have to help him, okay?”

“Jenny is tree.” Mike held up three fingers with the hand that wasn’t holding the stuffed bunny.

“Aww!!”

Jessica smiled and let out a sigh of relief as she noticed how most of the children had already warmed up to the new boy.

“Everybody has a sketchbook and a box of crayons?”

“Yes, Miss Pearson!”

“Good. What do we do when we have a new friend?”

Rachel raised her hand and answered, “We give him a gift!”

“We draw him!” Gregory answered, raising his left foot.

A few kids giggled at Gregory’s gesture and Mike realized that he wasn’t uncomfortable anymore.

“Mike, could you sit on that chair with Jenny so your new friends can draw you?” Jessica pointed at the small chair with a cushion and saw Mike nod.

“Okay, everyone. As usual, the one who draws Mike the best will have a chance to sit with him all week.”

There were murmurs and hustles as everybody picked a color to start with.

“While they draw you, Mike, do you think you could learn the names and faces of your new friends?” Jessica was already impressed that Mike hadn’t burst into tears like the other four year old kids they rarely accepted, but she wanted to give him something to do.

Mike noticed that everybody was wearing a name tag so he nodded and answered, “Yes, Miss Pearson.”

Jessica’s smile couldn’t get any wider as she realized that Mike had already learned her name.

“Psst, Harvey.” Louis nudged Harvey with his elbow.

“What?” Harvey asked as he colored Mike’s hair with a yellow crayon.

“Look at him! He’s cuter than you!”

“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous. Nobody’s cuter than me.”

“But he is! Oh, I’ll have to draw well and make him sit next to me. Sorry, Harvey.”

“You don’t draw well, Louis. And, if you don’t like sitting with me, I can find somebody else in two seconds.”

“Don’t be jealous, Harvey. You’ll still be the second cutest boy in school.”

Harvey didn’t bother to react and looked up at the new kid. The kid had big blue eyes so he picked up the clearest blue that he had in his crayon box.

*****

“Is everyone almost done?”

Jessica walked around the classroom, helping the kids with finishing touches on their masterpieces and checking if everybody was almost finished. Once she gathered all the drawings, she walked up to Mike who had been caressing Jenny’s ears and sat next to him.

“You get to choose the one you like the most.”

“I choose?” Mike looked up with joy in his eyes.

“Yes, Mike. I’m sure Jenny can help you out.”

Mike moved the bunny’s head up and down to make her nod.

“Take your time. And, you can take them home if you want to.”

Then Jessica turned to the rest of the kids. “Okay, children, clean up your desk and go wash your hands. Remember, smart people have clean hands!”

With Jessica’s help, Mike took a good look at the drawings. Kyle’s drawing was good, but there were too many hearts for his liking. He was a shy boy and it was a little bit too much for him. Harvey’s drawing was good too, but he felt that it didn’t have enough warmth. Donna’s drawing caught his eyes too, but she paid more attention to the little girl (which was herself, obviously) than to him. In the end, Mike chose Rachel’s drawing.

Once the kids settled back in their seats, Jessica announced the winner and sent Mike to Rachel’s desk.

“Hi, I’m Rachel. I’m five.” The little girl smiled.

“Wow, you’re pretty.” Mike blurted out.

“Thank you.” Rachel blushed.

“Ahem...”

Mike caught the sound and looked behind him. There was a red-haired girl whose name was Donna. “Wow, you’re pretty too.”

“I know. When you’re six, you just know those things.” Donna explained with pride.

Mike was struck with awe. It must be awesome to be six years old.

  
******

  
Days went by as Mike slowly adapted to the new environment. He learned new things every day and played with many different friends. Everybody seemed to be nice to him; it was nice to be the youngest kid.

Kyle and Gregory dueled with their toy swords twice a day to see who was brave enough to be Mike’s shiny knight. Mike made flower necklaces and looked for four-leaf clovers with Rachel. Donna taught him bad words (the most recent one being ‘You suck!’) and sneaky tricks (the most recent one being ‘putting an ice cube in the back of Louis’ T-shirt’). Mike had lunch at what Harvey called the grown-ups’ table with Harvey, Louis, Donna and Rachel. Harold made him clay castles that had a flag with his name on it, and Mike thought that it was really cool.

“Donna, how am I doing today?” Kyle asked and Donna took out her scoreboard from her desk drawer.

Since the second day of Mike’s arrival, she had made a board which kept the scores of who was getting Mike’s attention the most. Kyle was one of the most active competitors.

“Let’s see. Hmm, you got one more sticker for playing on the jungle gym with him.”

“Yes!” Kyle gave a small fist pump.

“But!” Donna paused for a dramatic effect. “You lost that sticker for killing Gregory with your sword.”

“What? Why? I won!” Kyle was confused.

“Yeah, but did you look at Mike’s face? He didn’t like it! I think you were too cruel and now he’s afraid of you.”

Kyle covered his face with his hands and let out a miserable groan. He had to do something else to earn that sticker back.

So the next day, he brought his Lego pirate ship to school and when everybody had gathered around to gape at its awesomeness, he gave the treasure box to Mike. There were gold coins inside, and Kyle had read stories in which the brave knight offered gold to his lady and got a kiss on the cheek. However, Mike didn’t give him a kiss on any part of his face so Kyle knew that his pirates had to steal more gold.

“You want him too?” Donna caught Harvey looking at the new kid.

“Pfft, I want myself. I don’t want anybody else.”

“Well, you only have one sticker on the board, Harvey. Oh, sorry, it’s one and a half. One for pulling back Louis’ T-shirt so he could put that ice cube in, and half for letting Mike sit at our lunch table.”

“He’s a kid, not a prize.”

“You haven’t read those stories where the bravest prince wins the princess? It’s the same thing! You’re six, Harvey. You should know all that.”

Harvey let out a sigh and got up from his seat. He headed towards the drinking fountain; he needed a drink.

  
******

  
Never in his very short life did Mike have this much fun in one week. He felt like he had made some great friends that he would like to keep for many, many years. Life was good at Pretty-Handsome; Kyle gave him a gold coin every day and Louis kindly pushed him on the swings whenever he asked. Rachel taught him how to comb his hair like a movie star and Donna taught him how to look fierce and awesome- it was all in the eyes.

In other words, Mike was having fun with this part of the class except for Harvey. He sat between Harvey and Louis at the round lunch table, but that was the only time that he saw Harvey, and even then, they didn’t talk much. Harvey seemed to have his own friends during playtime and didn’t seem to chat much with the younger kids.

Mike was sitting on the see-saw across Gregory when he spotted Harvey playing baseball with his friends.

“He’s pretty.” Mike blurted out as he saw Harvey throw a curve ball.

“What did you say?” Gregory asked from the other end.

“Noting!” Mike answered quickly. He didn’t think it was polite to say that somebody was pretty when he couldn’t say the same thing about the person in front of him.

Then he started to think about what he knew about the mystery boy. He used his fingers to count.

‘One: His name is Harvey Specter, and he’s six. Two: He sits next to Louis during class. Tree: He likes to play baseball and basketball. Four: He likes eggs, cucumbers, and mashed potatoes. Oh! And chocolate. Five: He naps alone and pushes Louis off the mattress whenever he climbs on it. Six: He likes…’

He needed more fingers so he let go of the handle as he completely forgot that he was on a see-saw.

“Mike!!”

Gregory saw Mike lose the handle but he had already sat down, sending Mike up in the air. Mike tried to grab the handle again but lost his balance and fell to the ground.

 _Thump._

“Mike!!!” Gregory yelled. “Are you okay??” He rushed to his side.

Mike put on a brave face but when he saw a little bit of blood coming out of his left knee, he couldn’t help it. “Waaa!!”

Gregory felt as if he was going to faint. He didn’t even want to know how many stickers Donna would take off his scoreboard once she finds out about this.

“It wasn’t my fault! Boo hoo hoo!!” Gregory ran away, crying, and Mike was left alone.

“Let me see it.” Harvey came out of nowhere and knelt down on one knee.

Mike looked up, eyes still full of tears. He slowly pulled his hands away from his knee, eyes threatening to drop fresh tears as he saw blood again.

Harvey took a good look at the scraped knee. “It doesn’t look too bad.”

Mike wanted to tell him that it did look very bad, but he was worried that he would disappoint Harvey if he opened his mouth and all that came out was more crying.

“Do you think you can get up?”

Mike nodded and Harvey helped him up.

“I’ll walk you to the nurse’s room. It’s at the end of the hall on the first floor. The nurse will clean the wound and make the pain go away.”

Mike admired how calmly Harvey explained like an awesome six year old.

“It hurts…” He didn’t want to sound like a baby but his knee really hurt.

Harvey let out a small sigh. This is why he didn’t like four year old babies; they whined about the tiniest things in life.

“What do you want me to do?”

Mike’s eyes immediately filled up with new tears at the slight annoyance in Harvey’s voice.

“Okay, okay!” Harvey couldn’t deal with crying babies. He thought on his feet and knelt down on one knee again.

“I’ll give you a piggyback. Hang on to my neck.”

Mike could hear ‘boo!’s and whistles coming from the small crowd that had gathered to see what was going on. He felt a little hot and wanted to go hide in a small hole.

“Mike, I’m counting to three. One, two, two and a half…”

Mike threw himself on Harvey’s back and hid his face in the older boy’s neck. He had never felt so shy in his four years of life.

“Woo-hoo! Way to go, Harvey!” Donna cheered as she waved the scoreboard in the air.

“Shut up.” Harvey tried not to notice how Donna put three stickers on his section of the board and kept walking.

“What is tat?” Mike asked, curious about the big board. He had never seen it before.

“It’s a stupid board.” Harvey didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want the kid to burst into tears once he realized that he was a pretty prize to win at the end of the semester.

“It looks like she’s keeping scores. Who’s winning?”

Harvey was a little impressed at the fact that Mike managed to grasp that much information.

“Are you on the board too?”

The kid apparently didn’t know when to shut up. Harvey thought that it must be Donna’s influence.

“Yes, I am.” Harvey entered the building and let out a sigh of relief as he saw the nurse’s room at the end of the hall.

“Are you winning?”

Harvey thought for a moment. The last time Donna told everybody about the updated scores (while Mike had taken a potty break), Kyle was winning and Louis was a close second.

“I may not be winning now, but I will win in the end.” Harvey answered as he thought about how Jessica had complimented his well-structured sentences. It’s not like he cared about the kid or anything; he simply didn’t like to lose.

Mike nodded even though he still had no idea what the competition was about. He wanted to ask Harvey, but he had already told him that it was a stupid board, and he didn’t want to be the annoying kid who kept asking about something stupid.

As they reached the nurse’s room, Mike curled his hand around Harvey’s ear and whispered, “I hope you win.”

*****

As the nurse took care of Mike’s knee and gave him a lollipop for having been such a brave boy, Harvey sat on the couch, looking at the baby boy.

‘I hope you win.’

Harvey wondered how somebody could sound so sincere when he didn’t even know what it was about.

‘Stupid kids.’

Harvey shook his head, trying to get the kid’s voice out of his head. Mike had whispered those words too close to his ear which was too close to his brain. That was the reason why it was difficult to get them out of his head.

“Tis is for you.”

Harvey looked up at the kid who was walking fine now. The boy was holding out another lollipop.

“I don’t eat lollipops. I don’t like going to the dentist.”

Mike wondered what he should do. The nurse had given him another one to hand it over to Harvey.

“You want to give it to a friend?” Mike thought about Harvey’s many, many friends. They must all be super awesome if Harvey spent that much time with them.

“To Scotty?” Mike suggested. He had seen Harvey and Scotty play badminton together the other day.

Harvey threw a sharp glance towards Mike. “Scotty? How do you even know her? You like her or what?”

“She has her name on her blouse.” Mike explained how he knew her name.

“And, if she’s your friend, I like her.” He gave Harvey a silly grin.

Harvey opened the door of the nurse’s room and led the four year old out to the hall. “You can keep the lollipop if you want.”

“Really?? Tank you!!”

Mike’s smile was so wide and bright that it reminded Harvey of his puppy that had died in a car accident. He had adored that smiley puppy to bits and pieces.

 _Thump-thump._

‘Stupid heart. I knew I walked too much with the kid on my back. I need rest.’ Harvey pouted as he and Mike walked back to the classroom together.


	2. Harvey's new puppy

The next day, as soon as Donna came to school, Mike turned around from his seat. “Good morning, Donna. Can I ask you someting?”

“Good morning, Mike. What do you wanna know?” Donna asked as she pulled out her supplies from her schoolbag.

“What’s tat board you keep in your drawer?”

Donna bit her lips. The baby boy wasn’t supposed to know about it.

“Is Harvey winning?” Mike asked, not sure how often the score changed.

“Oh, sweetie, do you want Harvey to win?” Donna’s eyes shined with amusement.

Mike nodded. “Is it sports?”

“Hmm, you can say it’s an art.” Donna held up her index finger to emphasize her point.

“Ooh, an art.” Mike realized that he only knew a few forms of art; drawing, painting, singing, and dancing.

Rachel giggled as she listened on. “I didn’t think he’d want Harvey to win. I thought he’d want Kyle.”

“Well, the baby dolphin’s going after the big shark. I’m impressed.” Donna smiled.

Mike wasn’t too sure what the conversation was about anymore, so he turned back to sit properly, only to meet eyes with Harvey who was on the other side of the classroom.

“Good morning.” Mike waved with a bright face.

Harvey hesitated for a second and waved back.

“Hmm, Harvey Specter.” Louis narrowed his eyes, trying to find out what Harvey was up to.

“What do you want, Louis?” Harvey took his eyes off Mike and focused on his coloring book.

“I smell something fishy.”

“It’s your own mouth.”

“No, it’s not. I brushed my teeth just 20 minutes ago.”

“Then it’s your hair.”

Louis took a good look at his friend. Harvey was definitely hiding something from him. He decided to do a little experiment to confirm his suspicion.

“Harvey, have you heard that I’m ahead of Kyle by half a sticker now?”

Harvey’s head snapped up and Louis could tell that the news was bothering him.

“Yes, I opened the door of his mom’s car this morning. I helped him get out of the car safely. You know he’s a little too small yet so he has to jump from the car.”

“Good for you.” Harvey’s eyes went back to the coloring book, but Louis wasn’t finished.

“Don’t tell me you have eyes on him too, Harvey. I’ve got enough rivals already.”

“I’m not your rival, Louis.”

“So you don’t want to play with him? How is that possible? Are you even human?” Louis poked Harvey with his finger to see if he had human skin.

“No, I’m a robot. And, if you don’t leave me alone, I will tear you like a piece of paper.”

Louis stopped talking in case his friend was telling him the truth. He had known Harvey for two years and Harvey rarely lied.

*****

“Okay, children. Today is Friday. What do we have on Friday morning? Anybody?” Jessica asked in front of the class and saw many hands go up in the air.

“Yes, Harold.”

“We have ‘What about this job?’ class!” The five year old boy answered.

“Very good, Harold. Last week, we learned about the jobs at the hospital. This week… Let me give you a hint.”

Jessica picked up a wooden hammer from her desk and asked, “Does anybody know what this is?”

Louis’ hand shot up. “It’s what judges smash on their desk.”

“What is this called?”

This time Scotty’s hand shot up. She remembered learning it from last year. “It’s called a gavel.”

“Very good, my dears.” Jessica’s proud smile lit up the classroom.

“Wow.” Mike looked at the impressive six year olds. He wondered if he would become smart and awesome too in two years.

“So everybody will get a role to play, just like last week. Then we’ll learn how things work in a courtroom, okay?”

“Yes, Miss Pearson!”

Jessica went on to draw the interior of a courtroom on the whiteboard and explained the roles of different participants. Then she made the children write down which part they wanted to play and why. Everyone got a sheet of paper which would help them learn the basic words used in a courtroom (she changed some of the words that were too difficult for the kids) while she sat down to take a look at the children’s notes.

‘Ahaha, oh such cute little creatures.’

Jessica enjoyed a short laugh as she read the kids’ notes. She felt very fortunate to be able to work with such brilliant youngsters. Her students were not only smart but also ambitious, imaginative, and funny.

After going through one-third of the notes, she sensed a pattern. She had been aware that the new boy was melting everyone’s heart, but she hadn’t known that it was this bad.

 _Gregory- Mike’s lawyer (I’ll save him from evil monsters!)_

 _Kyle- attacker (Because I will punch Louis on the nose if I don’t get ahead of him again! Mike is mine!)_

 _Louis- a better lawyer than Harvey (I want Kyle to be my helper. I need to know him better to beat him and win Mike.)_

 _Harold- jury (I want to sit next to Mike, please. Thank you.)_

She checked what the boy in question had written.

 _Mike- jury (I want to help Harvey but I don’t know anything.)_

Then she found this note.

 _Harvey- the best lawyer in town (Mike has to be my helper. He doesn’t know anything. He can’t play other roles.)_

Jessica had to bite her lips not to burst into laughter. She lifted her gaze and took a look at Harvey. The boy had been much brighter last year but things had been different ever since his puppy died.

‘Well, who am I to deny him his new puppy?’

Jessica stood up and started to write down the roles on the whiteboard, listening to the ‘ah!’s ‘yay!’s coming from the kids.

*****

“This is cool!” Donna looked down at the black robe that was way too big for her. She was sitting at the teacher’s desk with a smug look on her face.

“As the judge, your job is to make sure that everybody stays quiet and that nobody fights.” Jessica explained.

“Oh, I already do that around here.” The red-haired girl batted her pretty eyelashes.

Jessica smiled and checked if everyone was in position. Rachel, the court reporter, was ready to type in front of a type writer. Harold, the plaintiff, was doing a great job looking terrified. Harvey, his lawyer, and his associate Mike were seated next to him. On the desk next to them, Ben was playing the defendant, Louis was his lawyer, and Kyle was Louis’ associate. Then there was Gregory, the security guard, looking very intimidating with his toy sword tucked in his belt. Everyone else was going to play the jury under the guidance of Scotty.

“Okay, is everybody ready?”

“Yes, Miss Pearson!” The voices sounded excited.

“Then let’s begin!”

Things went smoothly as Jessica supervised the situation. The kids were eager to learn and Jessica was more than happy to answer every single one of their questions. But just when she thought that it might be one of those rare days when nothing dramatic happened, her expectations were shattered into pieces.

The incident had started with Kyle not paying enough attention to what Louis was saying. He was busy folding little paper planes and flying them Mike’s way. Both Louis and Harvey gave him a look of death, but Kyle wouldn’t stop.

“I said, quit it, Kyle! You’re my helper! You do what I tell you to do!” Louis exploded.

“But you’re doing fine! You don’t need my help!” Kyle barked back.

“Well, Mike doesn’t need your help to learn what a heart looks like!” Louis picked up one of the planes from the floor and pointed at the big red hearts on the wings.

“Order in the court!” Donna banged her gavel.

“Oh my god, he drew hearts for Mike?” Gregory immediately drew out his sword.

“Mike doesn’t like hearts! He likes clay castles!” Harold yelled.

“No, he doesn’t! Your castles suck!” Kyle gave him thumbs down.

In less than five seconds, Harold jumped out of his seat and punched Kyle on the shoulder who, in return, kicked him in the shin. Gregory stood between them, wielding his sword like a maniac.

“Order in the court!!” Donna banged the gavel three times, but the boys were too busy to hear her.

“Order!! I said order!!!” She smashed the gavel over and over again.

When the boys still didn’t stop fighting, she stormed out of her seat, dragging her long robe, and grabbed the back of Kyle’s hair.

“Ahhh! It hurts!!”

“It’s supposed to hurt when you don’t listen to the judge!”

Then she grabbed Harold’s hair with her other hand.

“Moooom!!” Harold’s cry for help echoed in the classroom.

“That’s enough!”

Jessica made Donna let go of the boys, and when the kids had promised to stay out of trouble, the bell rang. It was time for lunch.

*****

Kyle had never had such an awful day in a very long time. First, he had been knocked down to second place on the very important scoreboard. Second, the back of his head still hurt because of Donna. Third, his pirates weren’t able to steal any gold to offer to Mike; Kyle had already taken everyone’s Lego gold from the other class. And, last but not least, he hated Friday because it meant that he wouldn’t get to see Mike until Monday morning.

‘Bah, I should ask for a picture of him.’

Proud of his brilliant idea, his eyes searched for Mike. The baby boy was on the playground throwing hoops with Louis.

‘Ah, that annoying dummy with a big head! He’s everywhere!’

Kyle stomped his feet as he marched towards Mike.

“Hi, Kyle.” Mike greeted him with a smile that totally melted Kyle’s small heart.

“Hi, Mike. Do you have any pictures of you?”

Mike nodded. “Mommy takes my pictures.”

“Cool! Can I have one on Monday?” Kyle was excited.

“You want a picture of him? What for? So you can pretend you’re with him all the time?” Louis sneered.

“Shut up!” Kyle barked.

“No. You shut up!”

“I said shut up first!”

“I said it louder!”

“I can say it louder than you!!”

“Well, you didn’t!!”

The boys were too busy huffing that they hadn’t noticed that Mike was gone.

“Where is he?” Louis asked, worried that somebody might have kidnapped his cute little pony.

“Over there.” Kyle pointed at the swings with a pouty face.

Mike was on the swings, giggling, while Harvey pushed him high into the air.

“But I’m the one who pushes him on the swings!” Louis whined.

“Meh, I don’t like Harvey.” Kyle stated.

“Well, he’s way behind on the scoreboard.”

“I don’t know. It’s so hard for me to get one sticker, but when Harvey does something, Donna puts a lot of stickers.” Kyle pouted.

“Are you saying I’m not fair?” Donna sneaked up behind the boys, almost giving them a heart attack.

“I didn’t say that!” Kyle begged for her mercy.

“Hmm, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that if you fetch me a glass of water.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Kyle rushed into the school building, desperate not to get a sticker off his section of the board.

*****

“Grr…”

After dodging the Donna bullet, Kyle decided that he needed a solid strategy to win Mike’s heart.

‘I will think of something that will blow Donna’s mind. She will have to give me two stickers!’

He was looking up at the sky with his chin propped up on his hands on the windowsill. He was supposed to be napping but he didn’t feel like sleeping when he had so many rivals to worry about. The sky had a very dark face just like the little boy.

‘Oh my god, that’s it! Am I a genius or what?’

Proud of his idea once again, Kyle checked that the teacher was busy with her paperwork and slowly moved towards Mike’s desk. Thankfully, Mike was asleep like an angel on Donna’s mattress.

‘Ehehe… this will work like magic. If he’s really happy about it, he might finally give me a kiss on the cheek!’

Beaming like a baby beaver, Kyle picked up Mike’s umbrella from under his desk and hid it in the supply closet in the back of the classroom.

******

 _Pitter-patter._

Harvey looked out the window with a displeased look on his face. He hated rainy days. He hated acid rain messing with his clothes and hated stepping on mud and ruining his shoes. Besides, his puppy had been killed in a car accident when it was raining cats and dogs. There was nothing awesome about rainy days.

‘Bah…’

He had learned in class that rain was very important for everybody who lived on Earth, but he couldn’t care less about it. It was raining right now and all he wanted to do was to get out of school, go back home, and change into completely dry clothes.

“You’re sure you put it under the desk?”

His ears caught Rachel’s voice full of worries.

“I’m sure.” Mike answered.

“What did you lose?” Harvey asked, trying not to be annoyed at how four year olds always managed to lose something.

“My umbrella. It’s blue.”

Mike looked at the umbrella that was in Harvey’s hand. “A lighter blue. And it’s smaller.”

Harvey nodded and scanned the classroom for anything that was baby blue.

“Do you like blue too?” Mike asked with hope in his eyes.

“Yeah, blue’s okay.”

Mike clapped his hands, happy to have found another friend who liked blue. So far, he had found Kyle, Louis, Gregory and Harold.

“I don’t think your umbrella’s in here, Mike.” Harvey revealed the result of his scanning.

“Oh… but it’s raining.”

“I know. Is your mom coming to pick you up?”

Mike nodded. “But she always parks a little far away. She wants me to be a brave boy and walk to her car. I’ve been very brave every day!”

Harvey smiled. Maybe there was a good reason that so many boys were fighting for his attention.

“You know what? My umbrella is big. I think we can use it together.”

Mike’s face broke into a huge grin. “Tank you, Harvey.”

*****

After leaving Mr. Hardman’s classroom, Kyle rushed back to his own. Mr. Hardman had found out about his pirates stealing Lego gold from his students and he had lectured him for a very long time. Just when the boy thought that his day couldn’t get any worse, he noticed that he couldn’t find the blond boy with big blue eyes anywhere.

“Rach? Have you seen Mike?”

“Yeah, he went home.”

“But how?? He doesn’t have an umbrella!”

Rachel eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know that?”

Kyle was terrified that Rachel might tell Donna about what he had done. “Err… I was helping him find his umbrella out in the hall!”

“Did you find it?”

“No. I think somebody took it.”

Kyle knew that Miss Pearson always taught them that lying was very bad, but he couldn’t help it. He was more afraid of Donna than Miss Pearson.

“He’ll be okay. Harvey walked him to his mom’s car. You know he has a huge umbrella. Donna told me he doesn’t like to get wet even a tiny bit.” Rachel informed the boy who looked suddenly alarmed.

“Harvey…?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Kyle ignored her last question and gathered his stuff in a hurry. Then he ran to the supply closet and took out Mike’s umbrella when Rachel was busy looking at her face in the mirror.

‘I hope he’ll forgive me…’

Kyle ran out of the classroom, across the hall, and out of the building. He could feel the mud making his sneakers and the lower part of his jeans dirty, but it didn’t matter now.

‘I’m sorry, Mike. I just wanted to be your hero who found your umbrella.’

When he thought that he couldn’t run any more, he spotted Harvey’s big, dark blue umbrella on one side of the road.

“Mi…”

He was going to call Mike’s name but his voice died inside. Mike was standing on tiptoe, giving Harvey a kiss on the cheek. Even from where he was standing, he could see how bright Mike’s smile was. Sure, Mike smiled at him too but it looked different.

Kyle dropped everything. His schoolbag, his umbrella, and Mike’s umbrella ended up in a pool of rain. His legs were tired from all the running, his chest hurt from trying to catch his breath, and his face was getting wet.

“Mike…” He called weakly.

He watched Harvey open the door of Mike’s mother’s car, Mike wave his pretty little hand at him, and Harvey wave back. There was a look on Harvey’s face that made him feel like Gregory’s sword had gone through his heart.

“Boo hoo hoo…”

Sinking down on a puddle, the boy learned the pain of a broken heart.


	3. Keeping the puppy safe and happy

On Monday morning, Harvey’s mother noticed that something was going on with her son. The boy had been spending twice as much time in front of the tall mirror.

“Come here, son. Let me see that handsome face.”

“Mom, you see me all the time.” Harvey didn’t even look at her.

“Is it someone’s birthday today? A party at school?” She asked. There must be a reason why her son was paying more attention to his looks.

“No, mom. Leave me alone.”

The mother laughed. “A new friend then? Someone with a pretty smile?”

She saw the boy’s shoulders tense up and knew that she had hit the right spot. It was time to press until it hurt.

“What’s her name? Or is it a boy?”

“I am not going to answer that.” Harvey spoke in his most grown-up voice.

“But I’m your mom, Harvey! You can tell me anything!” She laughed some more. She was definitely enjoying this.

“Is this friend as pretty as me? Am I being replaced already? Does this friend kiss you on the cheek like I do?”

She didn’t miss the hint of red appear on her son’s cheek. It was time for the final blow.

“That friend likes light blue?” She asked, pointing at the color of his T-shirt. He hadn’t worn that shirt in months.

“I’m not talking to you, mom. I’m late!” Harvey ran out of the room with his schoolbag in hand, wondering how she could possibly know all that.

*****

When Donna arrived at school, Kyle was sitting in Mike’s seat, sobbing into a Kleenex.

“What happened?”

“Boo hoo hoo…”

Kyle told her about the umbrella incident between sobs and sniffs.

“I’m sorry, Kyle. But I’ll have to take a sticker off the board. Mike was worried about that umbrella.” Donna spoke in a soft voice while Rachel patted the boy on the back.

“That’s okay. I want to take my name down anyway.”

“What? Why?” Rachel asked.

“I’m not six like Harvey. He’s not going to choose me.” Kyle blew his nose.

“Aww.” Donna patted him on the head and took a look at Harvey. The boy looked perfect today.

‘Did he use hair gel? Seriously? Well, well, well… isn’t this getting interesting…’

After taking off Kyle’s name from the scoreboard, she walked towards Harvey with an amused smile on her face.

“Morning, Harvey.”

“Morning, Donna.” Harvey looked up from his penmanship book.

“You look great today.”

Harvey looked at her cautiously. “What do you want?”

“I want to know how much gel you put in your hair.”

“No, you don’t. You want something else.”

“Fine, I need your help. You see, Harvey, I was sick yesterday.” Donna coughed, wondering if she should become an actress.

“Did you see a doctor? You should go to the nurse’s room if you’re still sick.”

Donna smiled. Harvey could be sweet like that. “Yes, I saw a doctor. He said I had a cold. So I want Mike to nap with you until I get better. I don’t want to get him sick.”

She tried really hard not to burst into laughter at Harvey’s shocked expression.

“Donna, you know I nap alone. I’ve always napped alone.”

“That’s just it! Everybody has a friend to nap with, so there’s nobody else I can leave Mike with!”

Donna coughed some more and saw that Harvey was buying her acting. Oh god, she was going to be a superstar on the red carpet one day.

“What if he snores and drools? Four year olds always drool.”

“Mike doesn’t snore or drool.”

“Can’t he sleep alone on another mattress with his bunny?”

“Harvey, he’s four! Of course he has to sleep with somebody!”

“Fine. Stop yelling.” Harvey gave up.

“One more thing. Keep him happy and safe, okay? If he cries or goes missing, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Why would he go missing?”

“He’s pretty! Haven’t you read the stories where bad people come and steal things when good people are asleep?”

“He’s not a thing.”

“But he’s pretty! So keep him safe, okay?”

Harvey grunted and Donna took that as a ‘yes’.

*****

By the time nap time had arrived, everybody in the kindergarten knew about Kyle’s broken heart and how Mike had kissed Harvey on the cheek. So it was no surprise that everybody in the classroom was watching Mike drag his pillow and his stuffed bunny towards Harvey’s mattress.

“Um… People are looking at us, Harvey.” Mike whispered.

Harvey lifted his eyes and gave his friends a death glare which made them pretend that they weren’t looking.

Mike put his pillow next to Harvey’s and lay down with Jenny. He was tired.

“Ready for a nap?” Harvey asked, covering the baby boy with a blanket.

Mike nodded, letting out a long yawn. He looked small and weak in the six year old boy’s eyes.

Harvey thought about what Donna had told him. ‘Hmm, how do I keep him safe?’

He looked around and saw large toy bricks under the book shelf.

“I’ll be right back.” He told Mike and brought as many bricks as he could in two baskets.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked in a sleepy voice.

“I’m building a wall. It will keep you safe.” Harvey started to put toy bricks around Mike’s side of the small mattress.

“From monsters?”

Harvey looked around and got some very jealous stares. “Yeah, from green-eyed monsters.”

“Can I help?” Mike asked even though his eyes were closing.

“It’s okay. You go to sleep.” Harvey ruffled his hair and was surprised at the softness. It reminded him of his dead puppy that used to have incredibly soft hair.

“Are you okay?” Mike looked up, wondering why Harvey suddenly looked sad.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be okay.” Harvey smiled and kept working on the wall.

Meanwhile, Louis was huffing on his mattress, unable to fall asleep.

‘What is he trying to build? The Great Wall of China? He wants Mike all to himself! That liar! He said he wasn’t my rival!!’

Louis gritted his teeth. He looked on as Harvey finished the wall and lay down next to Mike. He grabbed his chest and winced when Mike turned to one side and hugged one of Harvey’s arms.

‘He has Jenny! Why does he need Harvey’s arm! He probably has a robotic arm anyway! It can’t be that warm! My arm is very warm!’

“Louis, can you stop shaking the mattress please?” Harold pleaded.

“Sorry.” Louis apologized and lay down, urging himself to sleep.

Minutes passed and more minutes passed, but he was still unable to nap in peace. Mike was his pony and it was going to stay that way.

‘I’m not going to just lie here. I’m going to break down that stupid wall!’

He saw Miss Pearson leave the classroom with her coffee mug and knew that he had to act fast. Like a street cat, he glided off his mattress and tiptoed towards the wall. Harvey and Mike were asleep with a small smile on their faces, and it annoyed him to no end.

He quickly grabbed as many bricks as he could and carried them back to where they belonged. He repeated that a few more times and looked down at the low wall with a huge grin.

‘Uh oh…’

He could hear Miss Pearson’s footsteps right outside the classroom. He didn’t have time to put back the bricks that he had just grabbed.

‘Oh crap…’

He hurried back to his own mattress and hid the bricks under his blanket.

Minutes later, when Harvey woke up for a glass of water, the first thing that he noticed was the broken wall.

‘What the hell! Who did this??’

His laser-sharp glare looked for a suspect and it didn’t take him long to notice how Louis was fidgeting under his blanket.

He didn’t bother to fetch a glass of water and headed straight to Louis’ mattress. “Louis, I know you’re not asleep. What do you have in there?”

“Nothing.”

Harvey narrowed his eyes. “They look like bricks.”

“Just because they look like bricks doesn’t mean they’re bricks.” Louis was proud of his clever words.

Harvey yanked one of the bricks from under the blanket and shoved it in Louis’ face. “I think this is a brick, Louis. What do you think?”

Louis grumbled. “I was just worried about Mike, okay? The wall looked dangerous. What if the bricks fell on Mike?”

“I know how to build a wall, thank you very much.” Harvey growled.

“Boys! Why aren’t you napping?” Jessica approached the two, and Harvey took it as his cue to go fetch two glasses of water.

**************************************************************************************************************

 

A week had passed and the game had completely changed. Louis couldn’t believe that Donna gave Harvey half a sticker every time he smiled at Mike and a whole sticker every time he patted him on the head or pulled the blanket up to his neck during nap time.

“Donna, do you ever really look at the scoreboard?” Louis approached the red-haired girl at playtime. She was sitting on the bench, watching the competitors on the playground like a hawk.

“What’s wrong with the board?”

“Look!” Louis pointed at Harvey’s section of the board. If Kyle’s name hadn’t been taken off, there would’ve been no space left for Harvey to earn new stickers.

“So Harvey’s winning. What’s wrong with that? You just have to do better.” Donna slapped Louis’ hand away. She was the only person allowed to touch the board, and if there was anybody else, it would be Mike.

Louis narrowed his eyes and whispered closely to her ear. “Well, I will not worry about the score too much. You’re not coughing anymore, so Mike can go back napping with you.”

Donna suddenly developed a horrible fit of coughs. She even added a few sneezes. “Atchoo! Atchooo!”

Louis shook his head, leaving her side with hands over his ears.

Meanwhile, on another bench, Kyle was talking to Rachel about how his dad had bought him a Lego spaceship. The little girl was busy brushing her long hair but she still paid enough attention to what her friend was saying.

“Oh, I almost forgot! I have something for you.”

Rachel put down the hairbrush and pulled out two four-leaf clovers from her jacket pocket.

“Wow, these are for me?” Kyle’s eyes went wide. Everybody in the kindergarten knew that she collected four-leaf clovers.

“Yes, one is to help you glue your broken heart back, and the other one is to help you find a new friend to like.”

Rachel put the clovers on Kyle’s hand and he picked them up to take a closer look. She had felt bad for him ever since she had heard about the umbrella incident. She knew how hard Kyle had worked to make Mike happy and she thought that he didn’t deserve such heartbreak. The fact that she sat next to Mike during class didn’t help her mood. She was happy to see Mike and Harvey grow close to each other, but a part of her wished that it was Mike and Kyle.

“Thank you, Rach. But are you okay?” Kyle asked, after carefully putting the clovers in his jeans pocket. His mom had told him that they were good jeans, so he hoped that they were good enough to keep his clovers safe.

Rachel nodded but her face didn’t get any brighter. “Kyle, do you like sushi?”

Kyle didn’t even know what sushi was. Was it a new toy? The name of a new robot, maybe? Captain Sushi?

“Uh, I don’t know.” He answered vaguely, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of a pretty girl.

“You’ve never had sushi before? You should try it! I can share with you if you have lunch with me.” Rachel blushed a little as she realized that she had just asked a boy out on a lunch date.

“But you sit at the grown-ups’ table with Mike and Harvey.” Kyle made sure that there were absolutely no good feelings inside him when he spoke Harvey’s name.

“I don’t have to sit there every day.” Rachel twined her fingers together.

“Oh, then you can join our pirates’ table. I eat with Gregory, Harold, and Ben.” Kyle offered.

“I can be a pretty piratess…” Rachel wasn’t sure if such a word existed, but that didn’t stop her from being proud that she had figured out the female form of the word ‘pirate’ all by herself.

“Great! See you at lunch then.” As the captain of the pirate ship, Kyle had to tell his pirates that they were going to have a guest on board.

*****

“Hehehe…”

Mike giggled as Harvey tickled the back of his neck. They were in the ‘clean room’, brushing their teeth next to each other.

“Harvey! Stop! Ehehe…”

Toothpaste bubbles jumped out of Mike’s mouth as he giggled uncontrollably.

“Unbelievable.” Louis muttered as he brushed his teeth more forcefully.

“Does tickling Mike get him a sticker?” Gregory asked, wondering if he should ask Donna about the exact rules.

“Mike is laughing. So I think it does.” Harold answered, thinking that Mike had the prettiest laughter in the school.

“But he’s laughing too much! What if he swallows the toothpaste?” Gregory was a little worried.

“Then we can make Donna take off a lot of stickers from Harvey’s board.” Louis suggested as he checked both sides if the girl was anywhere near them.

“Do I look clean, Harvey? Miss Pearson says smart people are clean.” Mike asked as he showed off his freshly brushed teeth.

“Yes, you’re clean, Mike.” Harvey pinched the baby boy’s nose and heard annoying sounds coming from Louis’ area.

‘Oh, this is going to be fun.’ He thought and ruffled Mike’s hair. He could hear Louis and some other kids gasp sharply.

“Harvey! I brushed my hair like a movie star!” Mike looked in the mirror and made a face. His hair looked messy.

Fully aware of his “competitors’” glares, Harvey bent his knees a little and whispered in Mike’s ear. “You look much cuter with hair like this.”

Mike’s face turned red like a strawberry and Harvey led them out of the clean room, leaving a bunch of angry kids behind.

*****

The same thing happened during nap time as Harvey found out that it was a lot of fun to mess with Louis’ life by being nicer to Mike. He thought that this new game of his had three good sides (he could annoy Louis, earn new stickers, and see Mike smile happily) and no bad sides at all.

“Mike, do you want me to read you a naptime story?” Harvey asked, as soon as Mike had settled down on the mattress, a warm blanket covering him.

“Yes!” Mike was excited. Harvey had never read him a story before.

“Which one do you want?” Harvey didn’t need to tell him which choices he had. Mike had already memorized which books they had on the book shelf.

“Pick something you haven’t read yet. You already know many books by heart.”

Mike went through his mental library and picked one that Donna had recommended the other day, “Ali Baba and the forty tieves, please.”

Harvey nodded as he went to fetch the book. There was a time when he was annoyed by Mike’s imperfect ‘th’ sound, but now he found it rather adorable. Besides, he had gotten much better at it. Now he could pronounce it all right when there was only one ‘th’ in a sentence. Harvey could tell that it was only a matter of time to hear him nail the sound.

“Aww, how many stickers do you think I should give him, ladies? Reading somebody the right book for nap is serious business.” Donna asked Rachel and Scotty who lay on the mattress next to hers.

“What about one and a half? One for reading Mike a naptime story, and half for choosing the right book.” Rachel suggested.

“Scotty?” Donna wanted a second opinion.

“I just can’t believe Harvey’s reading someone a book! I think you should give him three stickers. Harvey never reads me anything! And, I’m the closest friend he has!”

“Ladies, get your beauty sleep, will you?” Jessica looked up from her desk.

Scotty made a zipping gesture against her lips and Donna figured that she should reflect both of the girls’ opinions.

‘Hmm, two then? Maybe two and a half?’

She took in the sight of Harvey lying on his stomach, reading the book and making different faces for a dramatic effect. She saw Mike giggle and gasp, enjoying Ali Baba’s adventures. A ray of sunshine was poking its head between the drawn blinds, eager to listen to the story.

‘Oh my god, how did I not notice that before? Harvey moved from his dark corner!’

She remembered that Harvey used to nap in the darkest corner of the classroom. At the time, she had thought that he just wanted as less light as possible to sleep well, but now that she saw him right beneath the window, she wasn’t too sure anymore.

‘Two and a half, it is.’

Donna made up her mind. She knew that Harvey could use a little bit of sunshine in his life.


	4. The spider and the butterfly

The end of the semester was coming fast. Mike was lying on the mattress, waiting for Harvey to come back with an extra blanket. It was getting chilly outside and Mike couldn’t help but be thankful that he had a warm bunny to cuddle with.

‘Harvey…’

He thought about the boy who made his kindergarten life even more fun. When Miss Pearson had taken the class to the zoo, Harvey had cut the belly of his piggy bank to buy him cotton candy. He even bought him ice cream but the giraffe had stolen half of it. When Harvey had glared at the giraffe, the tall animal had licked him on the forehead.

‘Hehehe…’

Mike chuckled. He understood the giraffe; Harvey had a pretty forehead. Then there was this time when they were in the nurse’s room for a flu shot, and Harvey had held his hand. His arm had hurt and he had really wanted to cry but he had been brave for Harvey.

‘I hope I’ll be braver when I’m six!’

Then he remembered the trip to the local bank. The bank manager had quizzed them after a tour and Mike had gotten all the answers right. As a prize, he had received a brand-new piggy bank which he gave to Harvey, saying that they could save up money for more cotton candy.

‘Ah, cotton candy.’ Mike smacked his lips.

“What are you so happy about?” Harvey asked as he put another blanket on top of Mike and slid under it.

“We have so much fun, Harvey.” Mike beamed.

Harvey smiled. Mike was right. He hadn’t expected to have so much fun at school with a four year old boy.

 _Chu._

“Sweet dreams, Mike.” Harvey kissed him on the forehead.

“You too, Harvey.” Mike yawned and fell asleep in a heartbeat.

*****

“Children, it’s time for the annual school play!” Jessica announced.

“Yay!!” Most of the kids clapped in excitement.

“This is when I shine!” Donna was definitely the one who was the most excited.

“Not again.” Harvey shook his head as he remembered how awfully hot it was to wear a stupid tiger costume last year.

“At least you were a tiger, Harvey. Do you remember what I was?” Louis ruffled his hair annoyingly.

“Of course, Louis. Who would forget? You were a monkey. The costume fit so well that we all thought it was just you in your normal clothes.”

“Hahaha, very funny.” Louis pouted.

“The play we’re going to do is about baby bugs not listening to their mothers and going out to the dangerous world.” Jessica explained.

“What happens to them?” Kyle asked. He always enjoyed a good story.

“They get caught on the spider web!” Jessica terrorized the kids.

“All of them?” Rachel was worried.

“No. Some get caught by little kids and some make it back home.”

“Ooh…” Gregory liked the simple storyline.

“I’m going to listen to mom all the time now.” Harold decided and wished that he would get the role of a bug that made it back home safely.

“All right, children. I’ll write down the roles on the whiteboard, then you will pick one and write it down on that piece of paper I gave you, okay?”

“Yes, Miss Pearson!”

While Jessica wrote down the available roles –not just the ones that play on stage but also the ones that would help with the production, the kids pondered about what they wanted.

“Psst, Mike! Which one did you choose?” Gregory asked from the desk next to the baby boy’s.

“Butterfly.” Mike told him.

“Okay, thanks!” Gregory wanted to act with Mike so he chose the beetle. It sounded better than a firefly or a fly.

“Did Mike say butterfly?” Harold checked.

“Nah, he said butterfly’s mom.”

Gregory misdirected him, hoping that none of his rivals would get to act with Mike. He knew how close the four year old was to Harvey, but Harvey was six, which meant that he would leave the kindergarten in less than a year. When Mike felt all lonely, he would save him and live happily ever after with him.

“Harvey, what do you think Mike picked?” Louis nudged his friend with his elbow.

“I’m not a mind reader, Louis.” Harvey calmly folded his piece of paper.

“Then what did _you_ pick?”

“I picked something you wouldn’t pick.” Harvey smiled as he succeeded in irritating his good old friend.

“Just tell me, Harvey!”

Harvey ignored the desperate voice and got up from his seat, gathering the other kids’ notes.

“Thank you, Harvey. That’s very nice of you. I’ll make sure you get the role you want.” Jessica promised him and Harvey winked at Mike who had no idea what was going on.

*****

“A fly? Seriously?” Louis was fuming as he watched Jessica write down on the whiteboard who got which role.

“You wanted to act next to Mike, didn’t you? You get caught on the spider web with him.” Harvey chuckled.

“What did _you_ get?” Louis asked, wondering why Harvey was in a good mood.

“I got the spider.” Harvey said proudly.

“So Mike and I will be on your web? How did you know that Mike would pick the butterfly and that he would end up on the web?”

“Mike likes butterflies and Donna told me the story.” Harvey answered. The girl always had some insider’s information when it came to school plays, so he had heard the storyline a few hours before Miss Pearson had told them.

Louis wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy about his role. Gregory got the beetle role all right, but he realized that all of his major rivals were going to act as baby bugs. Harold was the grasshopper, Kyle was the firefly (Gregory didn’t believe that it was possible for Kyle to move on; Mike was too cute to forget!), and Rachel was the honeybee (Rachel was Mike’s best girl friend).

“This sucks.” Gregory pouted and got a death glare from Donna.

“This is a wonderful play. Art never sucks.” She emphasized.

Gregory nodded and left her side in a hurry. He walked over to the teacher who was handing out costumes and scripts.

“How do I look?” Mike asked Rachel as he put on an antennae cap and wore yellow butterfly wings.

“Your left wing is a little crooked.” The five year old girl fixed it for him.

“Tanks, Rachel. You look like a very pretty honeybee.” Mike praised her.

“Aww, don’t you guys look wonderful!” Donna was happy to see that the costumes fit them so nicely. She was going to play the role of a mean girl who captured the beetle and also the mother of the baby honeybee.

‘I can’t wait to torture Gregory and scold little Rachel, mwahahahaha!’ She smiled like a red-haired devil.

*****

‘Hmm…’

Harvey was in front of the classroom at playtime, checking the notice board. Miss Pearson always posted the upcoming events so that the children could expect them beforehand.

“Scotty, am I reading this right?” He pointed at an event that was scheduled for next Thursday.

“Oh my god, next Thursday is Mike’s birthday?” The dark-haired girl confirmed that Harvey had read it right.

“He’s going to be five.” Harvey realized with a surprise. “But he still looks like a baby!”

Scotty giggled at the look on her friend’s face. It seemed like Harvey was really having a hard time to understand that his boy was growing up.

“What are you going to get him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Birthday present, Harvey! He’s only four! He would want one!”

“Oh, that.” Harvey thought for a moment but he came up with nothing. His mind had gone blank.

“You need help?” Scotty asked, grinning.

“Do I really have to get him something?”

“Of course! It’s his birthday! Becoming five is huge! You know that.”

Harvey groaned. “I don’t know what he wants. And, I can’t ask him. He won’t be surprised if I ask him.”

“Well, you know what he likes, don’t you? We can make a list together after lunch and see what’s good enough for a gift.” Scotty suggested. She loved picking gifts for her family and friends.

“Okay. But if he doesn’t like it, it’s your fault.”

“Pfft, who do you think I am? He’ll love his birthday gift. Just wait and see.” Scotty walked away like a proud princess.

*****************************************************************************************

 

The next day, everyone was busy learning their lines or decorating the stage, getting ready for their first practice. Jessica was impressed at how quickly Mike had learned his lines. She knew that he had an eidetic memory but he was only four years old; she had thought that it would take some time for his brain to develop, but she was clearly wrong.

‘Hmm… Let’s use silver. And, I’ll call him Harvey.’

Mike was coloring stars in his coloring book, naming them after his friends, having nothing else to do. He had quite a lot of lines as one of the main characters but he had learned them in less than ten minutes.

‘Oh! Maybe I can learn the other bugs’ lines too. I could help them if they forget.’

Mike knew that all his friends were smart but he also knew that they sometimes made mistakes. Miss Pearson had explained that their families and neighbors would come to school to watch the play. He surely didn’t want any of his friends to get into trouble because they forgot a couple of lines.

‘Do I need to learn Harvey’s too?’

Mike thought hard about it. Harvey was probably the smartest boy in the class. Louis always told Harvey ‘Your smart brain sucks!’, and Miss Pearson always had a smile on her face when Harvey answered one of her questions using difficult words. He looked over at Harvey and Louis’ desk and saw the focused look on the handsome boy’s face.

‘Wow, he’s really pretty.’

Every day when he waved good morning at Harvey, Mike couldn’t believe just how pretty he was. He even told Harvey once, but Harvey had turned around quickly and had told him to never say that again. Mike had been confused; he thought that everybody liked to be pretty but Harvey’s face had become red like a yummy strawberry. He had been worried that Harvey was mad. But when he had asked him if he was mad, Harvey had shaken his head. Obviously, six year olds had very complex emotions.

‘Let’s skip Harvey and start with Harold.’ Mike picked up the script and learned the grasshopper’s lines.

By the time that Mike had memorized Harold, Gregory, Kyle, Rachel and Louis’ lines, Miss Pearson had pushed her desk to one side so that they could use the space in front of the classroom.

“Okay, children, let’s see what you’ve got. Put on your costumes and let’s see how it goes. It’s okay to bring the script with you. It’s our first practice so we’re just going to have some fun.”

Jessica helped the little actors get dressed and put everyone in position.

“Harvey, go over to your web, and let’s get the baby bugs and their moms on this side of the stage.” She pointed at the opposite side of Harvey’s web.

Harvey walked towards his web in his black spider costume with the script in his hand. He had never been a fan of school plays, but he didn’t want to screw up in front of the younger kids. The last thing that he wanted was to look stupid in Mike’s adoring eyes.

“Is everybody in place?” Jessica checked one last time and let the play started.

*****

Sitting comfortably behind his web, Harvey watched as Mike flew around with pretty yellow wings, exchanging lines with other bugs. It gave him immense pleasure to watch Louis walk around with ugly fly wings on his back.

“Ahahaha…” He couldn’t help but laugh even though Miss Pearson had already given him a warning.

‘Ah, this play isn’t too bad. And, I thought Louis’ monkey was the funniest thing ever.’

Harvey sat back and saw Mike come close to his web. He gave the baby butterfly a wink and recited his lines.

“Hi there, kid.”

“Hi, Mr. Black.” Mike moved his wings by pulling the straps on his chest.

“What are you doing around here? And, who’s that ugly friend?” Harvey pointed at Louis who wasn’t happy at all with the improvising.

“He’s a fly. His name is Louis. And, we’re here to look for food.”

“Food? I know a very nice place where all of you bugs can eat as much as you can.”

“Can we take the food home? We sneaked out, so we want to bring back something nice for our moms.” Louis said his lines even though all he wanted to do was to attack the spider that had a smug look on his face.

“Of course, you can. You can do anything with the food. If you can come closer and wait on my web, I’ll go fetch the map.”

Harvey then patiently waited while Mike and Louis acted out a short conversation.

“It’s too dangerous, Louis! We’re already far away from home, and if Mr. Black needs a map, it means it’s far from here! We can’t fly too far away or our moms will spank our wings!”

“You butterflies don’t have enough courage! He says he knows a place where we can eat as much as we can. I don’t want to be hungry anymore, and you know how hard our parents work to bring us food. We… uh….”

Louis forgot his lines and was about to pull the script out of his pocket when Mike whispered, “We live in difficult times.”

“Oh right. We live in difficult times!”

While the two bugs kept arguing, Harvey left the stage and came back with a small map. “Hey, kids, I’ve got the map. Come closer and take a look. It’s right here. Can you see it? I think you should come closer.”

Both Mike and Louis took a few steps forward and got trapped on the web.

“Mwahaha…” Harvey thoroughly enjoyed this particular scene.

The head of the special effect team, Benjamin, gave the cue and a horrible sound came out of the speakers.

“Nooooo! Help me, Louis! Noooo!!” Mike acted as if he was really getting eaten by a big, bad spider.

“Miiike!!”

Louis waited for Harvey to pull him behind the web too, but nothing happened. Harvey and Mike had disappeared behind the stage and he was left there alone, hanging on the web.

“Uh, Harvey? You have to eat the fly too.” Jessica reminded the spider.

Harvey poked out his head and looked at the teacher. “No, thank you. He doesn’t look delicious.”

“You don’t get to choose, Harvey! It says in the script that the spider eats the fly!” Louis was upset. His friend had no respect for plays.

“Well, I’m not just any spider. I only eat good food, and you’re not good food.” Harvey made himself clear and disappeared again.

“Harvey Specter!!”

As Louis’ angry shout filled the classroom, Jessica realized that she needed a coffee break.


	5. The birthday boy and the winner of the board

The next few days were mostly filled with rehearsals for the play. The kids from the other class had come and watched, and the Pearson class had returned the favor. Donna had had an argument with a girl from the other class over which play was more artistic and the teachers had a hard time separating the girls.

Louis loved acting and he agreed with Donna that their play was way more artistic, but it was difficult to enjoy the time after he got captured on the spider web. Harvey paid absolutely no attention to him after dragging him backstage and treated him as if he was invisible. His sole attention was on Mike, and Louis knew better than anyone how cute Mike was, but he was Harvey’s friend too and he liked Mike too!

“Harvey, Mike and I are both dead. You can’t cross this line. You’re still alive.” Louis made Mike stay behind him and pointed at a line on the stage. He was determined to play with Mike too.

Mike thought that Louis was making perfect sense; his grandmother had told him that when you were dead, you left this world and went to live in the Land of the Dead. He liked to play with Harvey but he didn’t mind playing with Louis either.

Harvey snorted, crossing the line. “You still don’t get it. I’m not just any spider, Louis. I can go in and get out of the Land of the Dead whenever I want.”

“You’re making that up! The script doesn’t say anything about the spider being special. I thought you knew how to read.” Louis snorted back.

“We have different scripts. You’ve got the ‘not special’ one.” Harvey teased.

“Stop making fun of me, okay? Every bug is important! Haven’t you learned anything about the ecosystem?” Louis dropped a difficult word.

“What’s an ecosystem?” Mike asked.

The six year olds actively explained what it was, eager to teach the genius boy. Louis even consulted with Harvey to make sure that he was using easy yet accurate words.

Mike smiled. It was working; Harvey and Louis weren’t fighting anymore.

*****

The next day, when Mike found himself in the same situation, he knew exactly what to do. He had talked to his mom about it and they had come up with a wonderful solution.

‘Nobody fights when there are good cookies.’ He thought as he approached the boys who were arguing over who should push him on the swings after the rehearsal.

“Harvey, can you reach my wing pockets?” Mike tugged at the hem of Harvey’s T-shirt and pointed at the top of his wings.

“Sure.”

Harvey turned away from Louis and found the zipper of one of the pockets. Mike was bending his knees so they were not hard to reach.

“You have cookies in here.” Harvey noticed that Mike had a pocket each on both wings, and each pocket had two cookies in it.

“Yes, mom made cookies yesterday.” Mike beamed.

“You two can share.” He moved his hand between Harvey and Louis as soon as Harvey emptied one of the pockets.

“Mike, I think Louis is full. Didn’t you see how much he ate at lunch?” Harvey just loved teasing his friend. It was what he used to do the most before Mike showed up with his pretty blue eyes. These days he was rather busy teaching Mike everything he needed to know before he became five.

“Shut up, Harvey.” Louis wasn’t in a good mood. The semester had almost come to an end, and the scoreboard wasn’t looking too good for him. That was why he couldn’t let Harvey push Mike on the swings. He was the one who needed new stickers, not Harvey.

“You’re angry because I’m right. I pressed where it hurts.”

“I said shut up. Just give me one of the cookies.”

“I’m sorry, Louis. I was thinking Mike and I could have two each.”

Louis lost it as he saw Harvey plant a kiss on Mike’s head. “Harvey, you really suck! You know that? You suck! You can’t have Mike all for yourself!”

That was when Miss Pearson yanked the curtains open. “Boys, if you two do not close your smart mouths right now, I’m going to send you away to Mr. Hardman and get myself two other boys who will stay quiet.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Harvey dared.

Jessica glared at the boy. “And, what makes you say that?”

“Because Louis and I are the best students you have. You’re secretly competing with Mr. Hardman over who has the brightest students and you hate losing, so there’s no way you’re kicking us to his class.”

Jessica was impressed at the boy’s keen observation. He knew how to read people at the age of six. He might make a good lawyer one day. She decided to push him further for purely educational purposes. “I could always kick you out of school. We have a long waiting list.”

Mike turned pale and Louis fidgeted. He couldn’t say that he hadn’t seen this coming though. The day when he had become friends with Harvey, he had known that the boy would ruin his life some day.

At first, Harvey looked a little worried too but managed to put on his game face. “You won’t do that. You and Mr. Hardman run this school with the money from the school board. They get reports on how we do every semester, and Louis and I get the best grades with Scotty. If you kick two top students out of school, they won’t be happy with you.”

Harvey felt a little light-headed as he produced difficult words and long sentences. He would have to nap soon.

All the kids held their breaths, waiting for Miss Pearson to say something.

“Fine. But if you don’t keep your voice down for one more rehearsal, I will send Mike to Mr. Hardman’s class.”

Harvey thought about opening his mouth again but Mike squeezed his hand, silently pleading him to let go of it. So he nodded and squeezed Mike’s small hand, telling him that everything was okay.

*****

The next day, Louis didn’t bother to see what Harvey and Mike were doing. He just sat in one corner and played Sudoku as soon as he got caught on the spider web. Mike had come over to offer him a cookie and Harvey had poured him lemonade in a paper cup, so he had thanked them, but that was all what he did. There was no point in trying to impress Mike behind the curtains where Donna couldn’t see, and he didn’t want to face Miss Pearson’s scary eyes for yelling at Harvey again.

With Louis out of the way, Harvey was having a great time with Mike.

“Yum, your mom’s lemonade is great.” Mike whispered, making sure that Miss Pearson wouldn’t hear him.

“And, your mom bakes great cookies.” Harvey whispered back, putting one arm around Mike’s shoulders, careful not to damage his wings.

They were sitting opposite Louis who was practically stabbing his Sudoku booklet with his pencil.

“Is he okay?” Mike pointed at Louis who was now tearing a page off.

“Yeah, he’s just very passionate about Sudoku.” Harvey answered as he finished his cookie.

Mike watched Louis for a few more seconds and then looked at Harvey. “Can I ask you someting?”

“Ask me anything you want.” Harvey said as he noticed how nervous Mike looked.

“I know you said it was stupid but… what’s Donna’s board about?”

‘Oh, no.’ Harvey thought. He didn’t want Mike to feel as if he was a pretty prize of a stupid competition.

“Harvey?” Mike’s eyes were filled with curiosity.

Harvey thought for a moment and decided that nothing was better than the truth.

“Donna keeps scores of who gets your attention the most.” He felt so silly.

“Me?” Mike was surprised. He hadn’t even thought about the possibility that the board had something to do with him. He had just figured that it was what the older kids did; he was only four years old, so he thought that that was why nobody told him about the board.

“You’re mad?” Harvey asked cautiously. He liked the baby boy and he could tell that Mike liked him back, but this could change everything.

“Why would I be mad?”

Harvey had expected several looks on Mike’s face, but an absolutely adorable grin wasn’t one of them.

“Well…” Harvey didn’t want to spell it out for him in case his explanation made him mad.

“Who’s winning?” Mike didn’t want to make Harvey uncomfortable. He was simply thrilled that so many boys wanted to be friends with him.

Harvey couldn’t help the smug look on his face. He was fully aware that Louis was eavesdropping on their conversation which doubled the smug look. “I’m winning.”

Then he added, “By far.”

“Oh!” Mike clapped his hands as Louis groaned. He suddenly wanted the semester to be over. Perhaps there would be a new cute boy by next semester.

“What do you get when you win?” Mike asked. He was already great friends with Harvey, lunched and napped with him, and had already kissed him on the cheek many times (Mike actually remembered just how many times that his lips had met Harvey’s warm cheek, but he was too shy to think about it).

“I get to sit next to you in class. Of course, if you want to.”

“But what about Rachel?” Mike was worried about his pretty friend.

“She can sit with Kyle.” Harvey suggested.

Mike nodded. He would have to ask her if she was okay with Harvey’s plan.

 _R-ring._

The bell rang. It was time for a naptime story and a nap.

 

***********************************************************************

The play turned out to be a huge success. Everyone in the class had at least one parent present, and in Mike’s case, his grandmother had also made it. Some kids had even invited their siblings and friends. Louis fell in love at first sight with Rachel’s older sister and got overwhelming support from Harvey and the other boys who were on the scoreboard.

Today was another special day at Pearson-Hardman kindergarten. It was its youngest boy’s birthday. The birthday boy even had fans from the other class, thanks to his cuteness and good memory. Mike remembered all the names of the girls’ dolls and knew which toy car belonged to which boy.

“Happy birthday, Mike.”

“Happy birthday, kiddo!”

“You’re five now! Happy birthday!”

Everybody Mike met on his way to class gave him a smile and wished him a happy birthday. It was awesome to be five.

“Big day for you, Mike. Happy birthday.” Rachel checked that Harvey hadn’t arrived yet and kissed him on the cheek.

“Tank you.” Mike smiled.

He was ready for the big day. Yesterday Donna had told him that the winner of the board would be announced before lunch, and Miss Pearson had told him that there would be a birthday party after lunch. When she had asked him what his favorite cake was a couple of days ago, Mike hadn’t hesitated and had told her that it was chocolate cake.

“Are you excited about the presents?” Donna asked, counting the stickers on the scoreboard and writing down the number for each section.

“Presents? Mom gave me a new book. It’s for six to eight years old.” Mike was proud to own such a difficult book.

“You’ll get more presents here.” Donna explained. The kid had so much to learn.

“Yes, chocolate cake.” Mike knew that much.

“Nope. Other presents. Look over there.” Donna pointed at the foot of the teacher’s desk. “Those are your presents, Mike. We will sing you ‘Happy Birthday’, then you’ll blow out the candles, then Miss Pearson will tell you to choose two of your best friends so that she can take a picture of them giving you a happy birthday kiss on the cheek.”

“Oh.” Mike blushed a little.

“Happy birthday, Mikey.”

Mike turned around at Harvey’s voice. Nobody else called him ‘Mikey’ anymore and he liked that. Gregory had called him ‘Mikey’ once and Harvey had killed him with eyes. Harvey never needed a toy sword to kill someone. Mike thought that it was the power of being a six year old.

“Donna says I get presents.” Mike gave him a silly grin.

“Yes, you do.” Harvey gave him a quick hug.

“That won’t do, Harvey. The hug was too short. I’ll have to take off five stickers.” Donna threatened.

“You’re bluffing.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you, Donna.”

“It’s his birthday. Why not just give him a long hug and keep your stickers safe?”

Harvey looked at Mike who seemed to agree with the red-haired girl. “You spend way too much time with her, Mike.”

“I’m taking off two more.”

“All right!”

Harvey gently pulled Mike back into his arms and held him while Mike wrapped his arms around Harvey’s waist and nuzzled his chest.

“Aww, he’s like a cute puppy.” Scotty exclaimed from nearby and Harvey started to pull back.

“What do you think you’re doing? Hold him till I say when.”

“Donna!”

“He likes it and you like it too, so hush.”

As Donna killed Harvey with her eyes, Mike knew exactly which friends to choose for his birthday picture.

*****

“Happy birthday to you~ happy birthday to you~ happy birthday, deeear Mike~ happy birthday to you~”

Mike took a deep breath and blew the candles on the cake. Four candles were out, but one was still alive.

“Blow it, Mike!”

“You can do it!”

“Come on, Mike!!”

With support from his friends, Mike blew out the last candle and looked up with a smug look on his face.

“He spends way too much time with you, Harvey.” Donna told the boy who was standing next to her. Mike had chosen the two of them for the picture, and they were waiting for Miss Pearson to get the camera working.

“He likes it and you like it too, so hush.”

The look on Harvey’s face matched the smug look that Mike had sported a few seconds ago. Donna thought that the boys were a match from the smuggest part of Heaven.

*****

“Okay, Mike, it’s time to open your presents.” Jessica smiled. She wasn’t surprised to see that almost everyone had got him a birthday gift.

“Yay!” Mike couldn’t help but do a happy dance.

“You can start opening them in whichever order you like.”

“Yes, Miss Pearson.” Mike answered like a good boy and got down to business.

Harvey was in the back, enjoying his piece of cake. Mike had given him quite a big piece which made him like the birthday boy even more. Things were nice and peaceful for once. Mike looked happy and had just finished getting past the wrapping paper to his first present.

“A monster truck!” Mike beamed.

Harvey smiled and was bringing the fork to his mouth when he heard the disastrous sound.

 _Chu._

Mike had kissed Gregory on the cheek.

‘What the hell!’

“You’re not jealous, are you?” Donna asked with a smirk.

“He likes the monster truck that much?” Harvey frowned. Perhaps he should have gotten Mike a toy car. Perhaps he shouldn’t have listened to Scotty who had insisted that Mike would want something different from him.

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing, Harvey. That’s just his way of saying thank you.” Donna explained. She felt that she would be a great mom one day. She read kids so well!

“But he’s five now. He should know what he’s doing.” Harvey said stubbornly.

Donna laughed. “He’s been five for about fifteen hours. He’s just being nice.”

“Too nice.” Harvey grumbled.

“Don’t be so grumpy. He’ll kiss you too.” Donna patted him on the back and saw Mike pick up her present.

Everybody watched as Mike pulled out a booklet that read ‘How to be awesome’. The boy studied the book. It didn’t look like something that you could buy in a book store.

“Whoa… Did you write it?” He asked, his blue eyes bigger than usual.

“I did.” Donna said proudly. Somebody had to teach the puppy how to be awesome.

“Tanks! I love it!” The five year old ran up to Donna and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re welcome.” She laughed at the annoyed sound that Harvey made right next to her.

Then the birthday boy picked up the rectangular present that belonged to Harvey. Mike felt like little butterflies were tickling his belly. He knew that he would love it whatever it was.

“Let’s see.”

He quickly tore through the wrapping paper and found a new scoreboard that had two sections; ‘Harvey’ and ‘Mike’. There were also endless sheets of heart stickers.

“Let me show you how it works.” Harvey offered. Then he kissed Mike on the forehead and put a sticker on the board, next to where it was written ‘Harvey.’

“I got it.” Mike smiled and stood on his tiptoe.

 _Chu. Chu._

After planting two kisses on Harvey’s cheek, he put two stickers on the board, next to ‘Mike’.

“Catching up fast, aren’t you?”

Harvey chuckled and ruffled the younger boy’s hair. Then he got an idea about how to earn three points at once. He hated losing in anything, really; even if it was against Mike. So he bent his knees a little and gave Mike a peck on the lips.

“Aww!” Most of the children’s hearts melted while those that still wanted Mike for themselves put up a nasty look on their faces.

Mike blushed and smiled. He didn’t like to lose either. He knew that it was the perfect time to go for bonus points. “Thank you, Harvey.”

Harvey was stunned. “What did you just say?”

“I said thank you.” Mike beamed.

“Oh my god, he really said thank you!” Donna exclaimed. Pronouncing the words correctly was one of the many steps to be awesome.

As the class buzzed with how the baby boy nailed the ‘th’ sound, Jessica looked around with a smile. She had never regretted letting Mike into her school, but she hadn’t expected him to adapt so well at such a young age. He was not only doing well in class but also had a positive impact on the other kids. She loved that Mike brought more smiles into her classroom.

As the children laughed at something Mike had said, Jessica picked up her camera. This was the moment that she wanted the children and herself to remember.

 _Click._

 

THE END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue is coming soon :D Thank you for reading :)


	6. Epilogue

_Three years later- the day that Jenny joined the Red Cross_

It was a sad day in the Ross household. The youngest member of the family, Jenny Ross, was leaving the house.

“Ah, Jenny…”

Mike caressed the bunny’s ears as his mother talked to the woman who came from the Red Cross. He was very proud of his bunny. Harvey had told him that only the very brave men and women joined the Red Cross. If Jenny wanted to see the world and help less fortunate kids, he would have to let her go.

“Where do you think she’ll go first? Africa?”

“Do you want her to?” Harvey asked. They were sitting on the porch, waiting for Mike to say his goodbyes to the bunny.

“Africa is far away. I think she will like it there. Plenty of sunshine and many kids to help.” Mike answered.

He had never been outside the States but he wanted a different life for Jenny. He wanted her to help kids far away who were afraid to fall asleep in the dark and to keep them safe when they were frightened. Mike didn’t need Jenny’s help anymore; he had Harvey. But he knew that there was only one Harvey in the world, so he couldn’t stay selfish and had to let Jenny go help others.

Mike looked over at the box that the woman from Red Cross was holding. He could see many other stuffed animals that signed up for the voluntary work.

“Look, Jenny, those are your fellow workers.” Mike pointed at the box. He could tell that Jenny was excited.

“Mike, it’s time for Jenny to leave.” Mike’s mother said with a consoling smile.

“Okay, mom. She’s ready.”

Mike hugged his bunny as tightly as he could and planted a kiss between her ears. He wasn’t going to cry. He was a big boy; he was eight year old now.

“She’s going to be all right.” Harvey patted Mike on the back and let him put the bunny in the box.

“Goodbye, Jenny. Thank you so much for spending amazing time with me.”

A tear rolled down Mike’s cheek. He couldn’t help it. He turned around and ran to Harvey.

“Shh, it’s okay.”

Harvey pulled Mike into his arms and drew comforting circles on the small back. He figured that Mike was going through something similar to the day that he had sent his puppy to heaven.

“Mike, honey, why don’t you and Harvey come in and have some extra delicious pancakes?” Mike’s mother asked, winking at Harvey.

“Yeah, what do you say, Mike? I’m starving.” Harvey grabbed his stomach with one hand. All those years of acting in school plays were clearly paying off.

“You’re hungry? Oh, then let’s go eat.”

Mike rubbed his red eyes and took one last look at the Red Cross car that was becoming smaller and smaller on the road.

“One day, I’ll go to Africa too. I’ll see what she saw.”

Harvey smiled. “You do that. For now, you’re going to eat pancakes with me.”

Mike nodded. The two boys held hands as they walked into the house. They were going to talk about Jenny’s courage over pancakes and lemonade.

*****

 _Seven years later- the day that Harvey and Mike decided to go to Harvard_

Harvey and Mike were having pizza in Mike’s living room. Mike’s parents had let them have the house for the day while they celebrated their wedding anniversary outside.

“Whoa, they sound really smart.” Mike managed to squeeze a sentence out of his mouth that was stuffed with a slice of pizza.

“Yeah, they do.” Harvey agreed as he focused on what the lawyers were saying. They were having a courtroom movie marathon to celebrate the end of their midterms.

“Have you decided which law school you want to go to?” Mike asked as he poured Coke into his mouth.

“Yeah, I think I should go to Harvard.” Harvey announced.

Mike chuckled. “I knew you’d pick that one.”

“Because it’s the best.”

“And, it also starts with ‘Harv’.”

Harvey laughed. “What does that have anything to do with it?”

“I just thought it was a good match! People might call it fate!”

“Well, fate says you’re coming with me.”

“Hmm… I don’t know. Are you sure you want to be seen with a kid?” Mike stuck out his tongue. Harvey still called him ‘kid’ when he was fifteen years old.

“I need to make sure you’re in my sight. I wouldn’t want anybody to snatch you.”

“Aww! You’re worried I’m too cute and gorgeous?” Mike put a silly grin on his face.

“If you haven’t looked in the mirror, you have a pimple on your left cheek.”

“Which will be gone in a few days! My cuteness will last forever!”

“You had too much caffeine.” Harvey pushed the Coke out of Mike’s reach.

They ate in comfortable silence until Mike spoke cautiously. “Harvey?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever want to go out with someone else?”

Harvey eyed him sharply. “Where is this coming from?”

Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve been together since forever.”

“Ten years is called a decade, not forever.”

“Whatever, Harvey. I just don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out on the fun because you’re busy taking care of a kid.”

Harvey sighed. “You’re not a kid.”

“Aha!” Mike punched the air in victory. “You admitted I’m not a kid anymore!”

Harvey shook his head. Now Mike really looked like a kid.

“And, who says I’m not having fun with you?” He changed the subject as he grinned maliciously.

“Huh?” Mike could tell that Harvey was up to something.

“Uh oh…”

Mike tried to flee but Harvey was faster. They ended up rolling on the carpet with Harvey tickling every bit of skin that he could find.

“Ahahaha! Harvey! Stop! Hahaha…”

“See? This is fun.”

“For you, maybe! Oh ahahaha… Stop, Harvey!”

Harvey went a little easy on the kid as he enjoyed the feeling of Mike’s laughter fill up his world. He didn’t want that to change ever. So Harvard it was for both of them.

*****

 _Three years later- the day that Harvey had stopped being Saint Harvey_

Harvey and Mike were sitting on Harvey’s bed in their dormitory room. Mike was going to turn eighteen in less than ten minutes.

“I can’t believe we’re finally doing this!” Mike gasped in excitement.

“I don’t think I can think straight with all the blood going south.” Harvey pointed at the bulge in his pants as Mike giggled.

“I can’t believe you’ve waited all this time!”

“Yeah, Mike, there are many things in the world you can’t believe.” Harvey groaned. The last thing that he wanted to do was to talk, but he wasn’t going to jump his puppy before the clock hit midnight.

“Nobody will call you Saint Harvey anymore.” Mike chuckled as he checked the nightstand one last time. They had all the supplies ready.

“Well, we’ve done a fair amount of dirty stuff since you’ve turned sixteen. Good memories.” Harvey’s arms snaked around Mike’s waist.

They were still fully dressed in T-shirts and jeans, ready to go wild as soon as Mike turned legal.

“Are you nervous?” Harvey’s voice was soft against Mike’s ear.

“Are you serious?” Mike turned his head to face his boyfriend. “I’ve waited for so long.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Harvey dropped a kiss on top of Mike’s head.

“I trust you, Harvey. There’s no reason for me to be nervous.” Mike put up a brave face.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Mikey. If things get too uncomfortable, you tell me right away. Promise?”

Mike looked into Harvey’s eyes. How did he manage to keep such a boyfriend for such a long time? “I promise.”

The look on Harvey’s face was nothing that Mike could describe with words. Mike felt as if he would burst from the amount of affection that he could see in Harvey’s eyes. There was lust in them all right, but the pure joy and excitement that came from the expectations of connecting with him at the deepest level was unmistakable.

“I’ll show you how I feel.”

Aware that they only had to wait two more minutes, Harvey unhooked his arms from Mike’s waist and put them on his face. The boy still looked so young, and a part of Harvey was still debating if he should wait another year, but he knew that Mike would probably kill him if he let him wait any longer.

“Show me, Harvey.”

Mike’s eyes were one of the things in the world that constantly amazed Harvey. They were simply breathtaking. He was blissfully addicted to so many things of Mike and he never wanted to get better.

“Harvey?”

“Hmm?” Harvey couldn’t take his eyes off Mike’s.

“I think I’m eighteen now.”

Harvey glanced at the clock on the wall. Mike was right.

“Mikey…”

“Harvey…”

Their eyes closed as their lips met. They had expected to lose their minds as soon as it became midnight and Harvey had been worried that he might get too rough, but apparently, he cared about Mike much more than he wanted to admit. He found himself taking the time to let Mike know just how much he meant to him.

While they kissed into the night, they both thought about the day that they had first met. Oh, they were such silly kids back then. Mike thought about the moment when Harvey had let him have lunch at the grown-ups’ table while Harvey thought about the moment when Mike had kissed him on the cheek under the umbrella.

Then their thoughts drifted to the day of their first kiss. It had happened on the bench of a park right after Mike’s lips had turned impossibly red because of a cherry flavored Popsicle.

“Oh god, Harvey…” Mike felt as if his whole body was burning. He had to get out of the clothes.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Harvey took off Mike’s jeans as Mike peeled off his own T-shirt.

“Are you nervous too?” Mike asked as he lied on his back.

Harvey looked down. The kid had just admitted that he was nervous. “Yes, I am.”

He kissed the tip of Mike’s nose and wore his most reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, puppy. We’re going to take it slow, and we’re going to love this. Have you ever seen any other couple with better chemistry?”

Mike shook his head and smiled. As he wrapped his arms around Harvey’s neck, he knew that this would be his favorite birthday gift ever.

 

***************************************************************************************************************

 

 _Ten years later, at Pearson-Hardman law firm_

When Rachel walked into her office, the first thing that caught her eyes was the flowers on her desk. White roses were her favorite and her husband knew exactly what to get her. She breathed in the scent of the fresh roses and read what was written inside the card.

 _The roses cannot match your beauty, but what in the world can?  
\- Your faithful pirate_

‘Oh, Kyle…’

Rachel smiled as she pictured him struggle to find the right words. They had been married for two years now and Kyle had been good to her. She put the roses in a vase and grabbed a piece of paper.

 _The dinner I’ll cook you tonight might match it. You’ll get a dessert too._

The paralegal picked up the note and headed to the associates’ cubicles. She left the note on Kyle’s desk and was about to leave when she saw a very excited Mike out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey, what’s going on? I’m the one who’s pregnant but you look like you have some serious hormone issues.”

“Oh, Rach, I’m so glad you asked. Harvey’s going to be a junior partner!” It wasn’t official yet but Mike had to tell someone, and he knew that he could trust Rachel.

“Oh my god! That’s fantastic!”

There was only one small problem; Rachel was pregnant.

“Oh god, are you crying?” Mike bolted out of his chair and pulled out a Kleenex.

“I’m just so happy for you guys!”

“Yeah, I can tell. Thank you.”

Rachel took the Kleenex and wiped the tears off her face. She hoped that her mascara was intact. Kyle had bought her ‘super water proof’ ones, but if she checked herself in the mirror later and found it smeared, Kyle could kiss his dessert goodbye.

“You guys can move into a bigger house, Mike. With three bedrooms! God, I’d love a house with three bedrooms. Oh, you should totally get a walk-in closet too. Isn’t Harvey obsessed with his suits?”

“You have no idea.” Mike groaned. “He’s also obsessed with telling me how he passionately hates my skinny ties.”

“Aww, that’s so adorable. He wants you to look better. I so knew he had a heart inside all that armor.” Rachel cried some more.

“Ross, what did you do to make my wife cry?” Kyle butted in, glaring at Mike with dark eyes.

“It’s fine, honey. I’m just so happy for him.” Rachel pulled Mike into a murderous hug while Mike put up his hands to tell Kyle that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

After letting go of Mike who was on the verge of passing out due to lack of air, Rachel looked at her husband with narrowed eyes. “Try to work harder, will you?”

“I already work hard!” Kyle protested.

“That’s why I said ‘harder’.”

Rachel walked away while Kyle was left confused. “I don’t get it! I got her white roses! Those are her favorite!”

Mike shrugged. “Maybe you screwed up in your card.”

Kyle bit his lips. “I knew it! I should’ve just quoted some nauseating old poem.”

Mike smiled. It was so easy to mess with Kyle’s head.

“Mike, Donna says Mr. Specter wants to see you.” Harold came over with a flushed face.

Mike let out a sigh. “I’m telling you, Harold, Donna’s not interested in you. She’s just toying with you.”

“She can toy with me all she wants.” Harold announced as he sat in his cubicle. He considered her a goddess, and a goddess could do anything she wanted to the whole wide world.

Mike shook his head and walked over to Harvey’s office. But the office had been cleared out and nobody was there.

“It’s over here, rookie.”

Mike took a few more steps. “Whoa, this is your office now?”

Harvey smiled in front of his new office which was clearly larger and had a better view of the city.

“I thought the promotion wasn’t official yet.” Mike said as he walked into the office.

“It will be in a couple of hours. Miss Pearson let me settle in early.” He couldn’t call his old school teacher by her first name. That was just wrong.

“I’m sure you didn’t threaten her.”

Harvey pretended that he was hurt. “Is that the type of person you think I am?”

Mike snorted. “I know you’re the type of person who would call your assistant not because you need a file but because you need to christen your office.”

“See, that’s why I told Miss Pearson that you’re going to be working for me exclusively.”

Mike snorted again. “Harvey, only a senior partner has his own associate.”

Harvey shrugged. “She thinks you’ll have a good influence on me. I don’t exactly agree, but I don’t care what she thinks. I just need you.”

“Please tell me I’ll be doing more than hiding under your desk and arching my back on your couch.”

“I have a few toys if you’re into those things.”

“Harvey! You know what I mean.”

Harvey closed the glass door and pulled down the blinds. “I don’t know. It’s _hard_ to think when I’m so _hard_.”

Mike let out an involuntary moan as Harvey pinned him against the wall.

“Uh, Harvey…” Donna’s voice came through the intercom. “I think you need to brush up on your pick-up lines even though Mike’s clothes probably fly out the window when you just look at them.”

Harvey let out a murderous growl. “Not now, Donna. When I said I was hard, I meant it.”

Donna laughed. “Fine.”

Mike could hear her turn off the intercom. They could finally have some privacy.

“So which surface do you want to christen first?” Harvey unbuttoned the top of Mike’s shirt and pressed open-mouthed kisses on the slender neck.

“I get to choose?” Mike tilted his head to give Harvey more skin to work with as his hands got through the layers of clothes to caress Harvey’s skin.

“You’ve got three seconds. One. Two. Two and a half…”

“Desk!” Mike yelled as Harvey’s counting triggered an old memory. He remembered the day in kindergarten when Harvey had given him a piggyback ride to the nurse’s room.

“Oh, Harvey... You counted till two and a half back then too. You didn’t jump to ‘three’ right away.”

“Hmm?” Harvey was too lost in Mike’s neck to bother about what he was saying.

“You waited for me. You cared about me way before I thought you did.” Mike felt like crying, thanking God, and kissing Harvey all at the same time.

“Harvey…”

“What is it?” Harvey lifted his head and looked at the boy with slightly red eyes. “What’s wrong, Mikey?”

Mike shook his head. “Nothing. I just love you so fucking much.”

Harvey chuckled. “Who thought you’d grow up into someone with a dirty mouth, huh?”

“You love me for that.” Mike licked Harvey’s jaw line as dirtily as he could manage.

Harvey let out a groan. “No, I love you for the passion behind that mouth.”

Mike couldn’t help but kiss Harvey’s face everywhere. “How do you say all these right words?”

“Well, I just made junior partner, didn’t I?” Harvey winked and Mike was certain that it was the sexiest thing that he had ever seen.

“Let’s get you on the desk now. Are you ready for this?” Harvey guided Mike towards the desk.

“If you’re asking me if I’m ready to have messy sex with my junior partner boyfriend on his _large_ and _hard_ desk, then yes, I am.”

“Oh, that dirty mouth of yours.”

“If you have a problem with it, you’ll have to shut me up.”

Harvey pushed the love of his life on his desk and shut him up with a fierce kiss. Life had been kind to them; Harvey knew that very few people were fortunate enough to say that. He didn’t want that to change ever. So he was going to stick with Mike to the end of his days. Whatever challenge life would throw at them, they would deal with it together. They would be scared together and they would be brave together. He would fight for Mike and Mike would fight for him.

As they parted to catch their breaths, Harvey realized that the little boy who had walked into his life with a bunny in his hands had become his whole world. He was grateful for such a beautiful world; it was full of colors and it had all kinds of weather. When his world was cold, he would wear a coat and paint it with warm colors. When his world was hot, he would wear swimming trunks and paint it with cool colors.

“I should’ve known you were special when you first walked into Miss Pearson’s classroom.” Harvey kissed Mike on the head.

“Well, I had a giant brain.” Mike grinned.

“I should’ve known you were special to _me_.”

Mike was at a loss for words. All he could do was smile and pull Harvey into another kiss. If someone asked him what the best thing that he had ever done was? He would tell him that it was to pester his mother to let him go to kindergarten a year earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :D


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